Focusing on four key areas – moral imperative, health and nutrition, integrity and standards and working with nature – the document raises important questions about what Britain needs for a thriving domestic food industry.

NFU President Minette Batters has encouraged MPs to use the report to broaden the conversation about the future of British food to include consumers, producers, processors, retailers and policy makers. She said:

“There has never been a more important time to talk about domestically produced food. It is more affordable, diverse, traceable and available than ever before, but around the world the landscape for food is changing and we face significant challenges in sustaining ourselves in the future.

“The privilege of a safe and secure food supply must not be taken for granted. We have a unique opportunity to shape our food policy and our food security for generations to come, and I hope this report builds on the conversation already being had in Westminster today.

“By starting a nationwide conversation we can work together to help plot the course for the future of food in Britain. If we do this then the benefits – economically, socially and environmentally – will be great.”

Moral Imperative: This section looks at the challenge of feeding a growing global population, the development of new technologies and making the most of productive land.

Health and Nutrition: Here the NFU considers the UK’s diet, the rise of obesity and the pressures on the NHS.

Integrity and Standards: This looks into the UK’s current food policy system, global food standards and imports and exports.

Working with Nature: This section discusses the reliance on healthy natural systems for food production and diversity in the global food supply base to manage risks due to natural environmental extremes.

NFU members: Have your say

Comment: Those who address this subject should never lose sight of our vulnerability to imports being cut off by hostile naval blockade, as in 1941 onwards (land girls, 'dig for victory' etc.) - after which people marched in the streets demanding "never again" [which of our readers can honestly say "that couldn't happen again"?], which gave rise to the beginning of subsidies to maintain domestic food production. Those subsidies mutated into the CAP, and are now to be ended, with the result that much of UK farmland will once again become scrub or horse pasture; farmers will retire, and their children will work elsewhere where the money is. Members should openly applaud and support Minette Batters for her unapologetic insistence on the importance of domestic food production.